Fresh on the heels of a $40-million investment that shifted production from its closed Toronto brewery to London, Labatt Breweries has relocated its Bud and Bud Light keg line to London from Montreal.

"We made the decision that based on logistics, it just made sense to brew it in London, since it is for the Ontario market," said Charlie Angelakos, Labatt spokesperson.

The Horton Street brewery also saw 61 full-time jobs transferred here as a result of the investment, which came about after Labatt decided to close its Toronto brewery.

The brewer announced in June plants in London and Montreal would share production from the shuttered Toronto plant, and London won a new keg line, as well as a packaging line, fermenting operation and brew house.

But the Bud and Bud Light for the Ontario market was added in December.

The new keg lines will brew 360 kegs an hour or the equivalent of 4.5 million cases of beer a year, but Labatt declined to reveal how much of that will be the new Bud.

The keg line also brews Blue and Blue Light for the U.S. and domestic market and Labatt Crystal.

"We made a $40-million investment in the London brewery and at the end of the day, it is a big investment, it is a big economic development initiative for the city," said Angelakos.

The expansion and investment will boost the plant's capacity about 45 per cent to 4.1 million hectolitres annually, the equivalent of one billion bottles of beer.

In December, the plant saw eight gigantic vats, each able to brew a million bottles of beer, trucked to London from Sarnia and Toronto, as part of the expansion.

The eight fermenters here will be running by the end of March and a new brew house will open in June. The physical expansion of the plant should be competed by mid-May, added Angelakos.

In other Labatt news, brewery spokesperson Bob Chant has left to take a position as chief of staff for John Tory, leader of the provincial Conservative party.

The London brewery now employs about 390, including 50 temporary workers

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

__________________There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. -Donald RumsfeldDidn't you notice on the plane when you started talking, eventually I started reading the vomit bag?

__________________There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. -Donald RumsfeldDidn't you notice on the plane when you started talking, eventually I started reading the vomit bag?

Here's some new news that I read from the city!
This is great for the downtown area it is booming.

The Municipal Council for the City of London is considering an amendment to the City’s Zoning By-law
We are
advising you of this application to invite your comments.

APPLICANT: Auburn Developments Inc.

LOCATION: 484-500 Ridout Street North (see attached map)

POSSIBLE
AMENDMENT:
Change Zoning By-law Z.-1 from "Holding Downtown Area (h-3.DA2.D350.H90) "
(.7 acrewhich permits a broad range of residential, office and facility type uses at a
maximum density of 350 units per hectare and a maximum height of 90m subject
to completion of a wind study to "Downtown Area (DA2.D750.H90) " to permit
the same range of uses at a maximum density of 750 units per hectare and a
maximum height of 90 m (295 ft.) or approximately 28 storeys .
The purpose and effect of this zoning change is to permit the construction of a
23 storey, 210 unit apartment building on the .28 ha ) site (see
attached).The applicant has also submitted a site plan application (SP 05-
101845) which includes a site plan, building elevation and photo elevations (see
attached). Please note that because the applicant’s have requested bonusing
and the review process has just started, that the attached plans may change.
The final site plan, elevations etc. will be included in the bonusing clauses
included in the site plan agreement.

ok, so i checked on that adress, its on ridout st near the lerner's law firm. lerners is building a new 3 or 4 floor addition on that lot, but i havent heard anything about a 210 unit apartment building...anyone have any more info?

Two weekly flights departing Tuesdays & Fridays from June 23 to September 15

LONDON TO VANCOUVER

Two weekly flights departing Mondays & Thursdays from June 22 to September 14

Airfares to Halifax are $149 and to Vancouver are $249.

“This new direct service will provide affordable travel options and will greatly benefit travelers to and from London and our region of Southwestern Ontario. “The direct service is a new opportunity to travel coast to coast from London with low cost service,” “Sunwing has operated a very successful program to Cuba and the Dominican Republic over the past three years and is rated as one of our best airlines in customer service surveys” said Steve Baker, President, London International Airport.

Passenger volumes at the London International Airport increased by 24% in 2005 and have increased by 12% in 2006.

Stephen Hunter, Sunwing Airlines Chief Operating Officer stated “We are very excited to launch this new service from London to Halifax and Vancouver. This enables us to provide a year-round commitment to the region of Southwestern Ontario.”

Sunwing Airlines flights are available through professional Travel Agents or at www.flysunwing.com

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

Developer Peter Sergautis stands in front of some of the 80 hectares of property he owns near Adelaide Street and Sunningdale Road. (Sue Reeve, LFP)
Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly and developers gotta make money.

Just how much developers are going to make on what London planners are calling placemaking subdivisions will play a major role in any decision to head down one of these new-style streets, says one of the city's biggest developers, Bernie Zaifman.

"We're all in business to try to make money, people who make cookies or chocolate bars or whatever," says the head of Z Group.

Zaifman's Z Group is one of several developers working with the city on a new way of designing and building subdivisions.

The style, evident in the GTA for two decades, is called new urbanism, new suburbanism and smart growth. London planners are calling it placemaking.

Z Group's property on the southeast corner of Commissioners Road East and Jackson's Road will be the test plot for placemaking.

Sometime this fall, after months of meetings and wrestling with placemaking concepts, a group of planners and developers will design a subdivision unlike any other in London for Z Group's land.

Then the costs and profits of that subdivision will be calculated and compared to the traditional design already made for the land.

Then, Z Group may build a placemaking subdivision.

"We want to develop a sense of community that may not be there in a typical subdivision where you've got rows and rows of houses that are jammed together," Zaifman says.

"Placemaking is more important today than it's ever been because people are looking for something different, a different flavour of architecture, a different flavour of community."

A strong market demand can translate into quick house sales, which can make additional costs for developers worth it, Zaifman says.

Besides quick sales, there is much Zaifman likes about placemaking, from the small parkettes that give a neighbourhood a small-town feel to the wide and shallow lots that showcase the front of a home, not the front of a garage.

"The streetscape. That to me is the No. 1 benefit. It is much friendlier. The architectural details of the house, rather than the garage, are more outstanding. It gives you the ability to do those details."

But a conversation with Zaifman also reveals some concerns about placemaking that must be addressed before big developers take to the ideas in a big way.

For example, Zaifman doesn't seem willing to abandon the cherished theory that lots and houses backing onto parks will bring in more dollars than houses that front the park across the road.

Roads along a park or woodlot or lake that have houses on one side are called single-load roads because they have houses on only one side.

Single load roads mean half the load of money for builders.

"I think that single-load roads can be useful, but they can be very expensive," Zaifman says. "You are paying for the same road that would put houses on either side. There has to be a situation where you are getting a great benefit from the parkland or open space area."

Urban design expert Michael Hannay argues that developers actually make more money by setting up parks that give houses fronting the greenspace and near the greenspace a higher value.

"I have always been interested in seeing how these communities evolve," says Hannay, who has designed several new urbanist neighbourhoods. "I knock on doors, go into sales office."

Hannay says he learned houses on streets running perpendicular to the parks sold almost as fast as those that front parks.

"They are selling fastest because they are close to the park or have a partial view or across the street with a view."

A park open to more houses creates more houses that can be sold at a premium, he says.

That allows new urbanist subdivisions to actually make more money than traditional ones, Hannay concludes .

Zaifman isn't so sure.

"I am not convinced of that. When you back onto a park or back onto a ravine, it is very significant in premiums."

Zaifman also isn't sure about giving up entirely on cul-de-sacs, the bane of new urban developments.

Cul-de-sacs, say new urbanists, hinder people from walking around their neighbourhoods because they have to go so far just to get to neighbouring streets.

"The cul-de-sacs are a lot more saleable" than straight streets, Zaifman counters.

"From the buyer point of view, it is a big thing. Cul-de-sacs are a big demand."

Other concerns of Zaifman include back lanes and the insistence by some new urbanists that each neighbourhood have a commercial centre inside the subdivision.

"I don't like the back alleys. I think it's a waste of pavement. . . . It creates more runoff. It makes it more expensive for the homebuyer.

It just adds to the cost of maintaining the roads. Some people believe it increases crime rates. It creates these dark areas where criminals can hang out."

Zaifman also points out that where developers will make changes, sometimes the city will not.

The city doesn't like maintaining small parkettes, for example.

And engineers resist narrower streets and homes close to those streets.

"I think it is a waste of land being so far back," Zaifman says. " If you could reduce those road widths and get a few more houses per acre, you could reduce the housing costs. Instead of chewing up the acres of farmland every year, we could reduce that."

Zaifman already had plans for a new-style subdivision on the test plot, but slowed down the process to work with the city. The relationship allows him a bit of a safety net.

"Innovation is a dangerous thing for developers because the process is so long. It takes three years to get a shovel in the ground and you don't know if it will work. If you've got to give up a significant amount of profit, the business case of doing a development may be questionable. "

Even so, Zaifman is both a little tired of the old design and a little worried about losing market share -- a combination that seems to have inspired other developers to try a new style.

"I think trying some of these things are risky, but I think it is worthwhile because we have to move ahead with housing designs," Zaifman says. "We don't want to do the same old, same old, over and over again."

At the other end of London, developer Peter Sergautis hopes to have the shovels in the ground a year from now on a subdivision that would put a bit of Old North and Wortley Village on 100 acres of fields.

"We're committed. We think it will capture the imagination of homebuyers," says Sergautis about the planned development at the northwest corner of Sunningdale Road and Adelaide Street.

Always a fan of Wortley Village and an avid supporter of new urbanism, Sergautis decided to try a different style of development on his property.

"I look at what the other builders are doing. It seems to me they are doing the same thing they have been doing for the last 30, 40 years: building two- or three-car garages with houses behind."

"I want to pick up the things that have been lost in the new subdivisions and duplicate what made Wortley Village one of the more attractive areas to live in."

Key elements would include interesting architecture from several builders, shopping within walking distance, parkettes and rear lanes in some areas.

Essential to the community would be a focus. Sergautis says it "could be a bakery/cafe, or several buildings that cater to the community."

It's true builders worry about paying for more roadway and the question of who maintains the lanes -- the city or the homeowners -- has to be settled. But builders can actually put in more houses per acre with rear lanes, Sergautis says.

Homeowners get more of a house because less space is taken up by the garage.

There has always been a stable market in Old North and Old South for attractive homes with detached garages and people have always paid a premium price for homes there, Sergautis says.

Those older houses are often costly to renovate or maintain and are hampered by small kitchens and low basements.

So why not buy a new house that looks the same? Sergautis asks.

There are still a lot of wrinkles to work out, but, Sergautis says, he's committed to placemaking.

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

St. Joseph's Health Care in London got the provincial green light yesterday to move ahead with more than $20 million in rebuilding under Ontario's controversial private-sector financing program.

"We are just delighted that they are honouring their commitments," said David Crockett, integrated vice-president of St. Joseph's and London Health Sciences Centre.

The work will be done at St. Joseph's Grosvenor Street site, where about $45 million in construction has already been completed.

The new construction will be on the hospital's southeast side with renovation of about 7,200 square metres, including the urgent care centre, cataract suite, health care records area, urology department and diabetes centre.

"It is going to take us about a year to a year and a half to do it," said Crockett.

To finance the St. Joseph's projects, the government is turning to the private sector under a program it has dubbed Alternative Financing and Procurement.

Companies are being asked to bid on putting up the money and doing the construction work. In turn, the province will pay the companies back over a period of as long as 40 years.

Wilson Lee, spokesperson for Public Infrastructure Renewal Minister David Caplan, declined to release the ministry's estimated cost of the St. Joseph's projects.

"We are not sharing cost estimates. We have learned in the past that once we start floating our cost estimates, that becomes the floor from which everybody else starts bidding. What we want to do is maintain the competitive tension," he said.

The financing method has been attacked by critics who maintain it amounts to the privatization of health care.

Caplan has said it's not privatization because the public sector owns the hospitals.

Without the private financing, many hospital projects wouldn't be able to go ahead, Caplan has said.

Other projects approved to go ahead yesterday included expansion and renovation of the Bluewater Health Norman site hospital in Sarnia, Sudbury Regional Hospital, Quinte Healthcare in Belleville, Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, and construction of a new youth justice facility in Brampton.

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

St. Joseph's Health Care in London got the provincial green light yesterday to move ahead with more than $20 million in rebuilding under Ontario's controversial private-sector financing program.

"We are just delighted that they are honouring their commitments," said David Crockett, integrated vice-president of St. Joseph's and London Health Sciences Centre.

The work will be done at St. Joseph's Grosvenor Street site, where about $45 million in construction has already been completed.

The new construction will be on the hospital's southeast side with renovation of about 7,200 square metres, including the urgent care centre, cataract suite, health care records area, urology department and diabetes centre.

"It is going to take us about a year to a year and a half to do it," said Crockett.

To finance the St. Joseph's projects, the government is turning to the private sector under a program it has dubbed Alternative Financing and Procurement.

Companies are being asked to bid on putting up the money and doing the construction work. In turn, the province will pay the companies back over a period of as long as 40 years.

Wilson Lee, spokesperson for Public Infrastructure Renewal Minister David Caplan, declined to release the ministry's estimated cost of the St. Joseph's projects.

"We are not sharing cost estimates. We have learned in the past that once we start floating our cost estimates, that becomes the floor from which everybody else starts bidding. What we want to do is maintain the competitive tension," he said.

The financing method has been attacked by critics who maintain it amounts to the privatization of health care.

Caplan has said it's not privatization because the public sector owns the hospitals.

Without the private financing, many hospital projects wouldn't be able to go ahead, Caplan has said.

Other projects approved to go ahead yesterday included expansion and renovation of the Bluewater Health Norman site hospital in Sarnia, Sudbury Regional Hospital, Quinte Healthcare in Belleville, Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, and construction of a new youth justice facility in Brampton.

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

The flight from Winnipeg will arrive at London at about 4 p.m. and depart 40 minutes later, seven days a week.

Jazz now flies from London to Toronto and Ottawa, and will add the Winnipeg flights in August. It considers London a regional centre for Southwestern Ontario, said Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick.

"London is an important market and Jazz has a sizable operation there. It is well placed as a catchment area for Southwestern Ontario and we are optimistic the service will do well," he said.

Last week the airport announced a new airline, Sunwing Airlines, will offer direct flights to Halifax and Vancouver from London.

Sunwing will offer flights from London to Halifax on Tuesdays and Fridays, from June 23 to Sept. 15. It will offer two weekly flights from London to Vancouver, departing Mondays and Thursdays, from June 22 to Sept. 14.

But there's more to come, with the airport in talks to add direct flight service to Chicago and Washington, Baker said.

As for other Western Canada service, Westjet operates flights from London to Calgary and on to Vancouver, as well as from London to Winnipeg and Edmonton.

"We have tremendous connections and price and this just makes for more competition for Western Canada," Baker said.

Passenger volume at London International Airport rose 24 per cent last year and has grown 12 per cent in 2006, he added.

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

A review of yesterday's provincial budget has uncovered a 14 million dollar payday for the city of London.
It's one of the biggest pay days for the city, and it's all new money, but it took awhile to find it.

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan gave the impression that the budget was about one region... Toronto and area... and that region only.

However, London is getting a chunck of 90 million dollars earmarked for southwestern Ontario.

The money will be spent mainly on infrastructure like road and sewer construction and repair.

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

The London firm will announce a deal today involving 24 apartment buildings.

ICORR Properties International will announce today a deal with Toronto-based TransGlobe Property Management Services involving 24 apartment buildings in London and Sarnia, the Free Press has learned.

The residential buildings are part of the Carlton Group, a real estate empire amassed by Norton Wolf, a well-known London businessperson and philanthropist.

The Carlton holdings became part of ICORR, a property service company founded by Norton Wolf's son, Ron, in 1986.

The deal does not affect commercial properties owned or managed by Carlton or ICORR.

ICORR is expected to refocus and expand its holdings in the sector.

Transglobe will take over management of the 24 apartment buildings, but the Carlton Group is expected to retain some stake in ownership.

TransGlobe is already a major player in the London market. In 2002, the company bought 22 apartment buildings with an estimated value of $160 million from developer Tony Gratt. Last year the company bought three more apartment towers on Mornington Ave.

TransGlobe controls about 4,000 apartments and more than 4.1 million square feet of commercial space across Canada.

The company's president, University of Western Ontario graduate Daniel Drimmer, has described London as an excellent market for his company.

ICORR president Ron Wolf declined to comment on the deal, which is not expected to close until later today.

Ron Wolf said his father, a member of the London Business Hall of Fame, bought his first building, Carlton Court on Ridout Street South, in 1959 and went on to build many of the city's high-rise buildings.

"He was a major part of building the highrise skyline in London," he said.

ICORR AND TRANSGLOBE

DANIEL DRIMMER

Born and raised in Berlin, Germany, Drimmer earned his BA at the University of Western Ontario and an MBA in Montreux, Switzerland. He launched TransGlobe Property Management Services in 1994. Working with his brother, Leonard, the company's vice-president, Transglobe has quickly grown into one of Canada's largest residential and commercial property management firms.

NORTON WOLF

Started in the family business, Artistic ladies wear, a fixture in downtown London operated by his father, David, and uncle, Bernard. He established Carlton Realty in1959 and amassed a fortune acquiring residential and commercial buildings. Through the Bernard and Norton Wolf Foundation, he has funded many community projects including the Wolf Performance Hall at the Central Library.

RON WOLF

Son of Norton Wolf, founded ICORR (Industrial Commercial Office Retail and Residential) in 1986, a property management and construction company that handles management of the original Carlton properties, as well as many other residential and commercial properties in southern Ontario and Florida.

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

A construction crane marks the spot where a new apartment building will rise beside an existing one at Southdale and Wonderland roads in south London. (MORRIS LAMONT, LFP)
Highrise apartment towers are climbing across the city, as builders look to woo a growing number of empty-nest baby boomers.

This year, at least 933 units will be built in London, almost double last year's total of 562. In 2004, 834 units were built, compared to just 94 units in 2003 and 70 units the year before that.

"We have seen a big jump in high-end, luxury buildings coming on stream," said CMHC senior analyst Ken Sumnall. "There is lots of activity."

The leading edge of baby boomers hits 60 years old this year and the housing industry is bracing for a rush of empty nesters fleeing their large, family homes for apartments and condominiums.

"They expect a wave over the next few years as boomers work their way through townhouses and condominium apartments," said Sumnall.

"The robust home-sales market we have seen in recent years has really helped fund the rentals. The economy has also been robust in recent years."

Tricar Group also has begun construction on a $27-million, 13-storey, 198-unit apartment tower at Wonderland and Southdale roads. It's the firm's second building on the site and there are plans for a third, said president Joe Carapalla.

Homeowners who have lived for years in the Westmount area want to remain, but as empty nesters. These apartments let them do it, he added.

"It is a very dynamic area. Southside (the company that owns much of the real estate in the area) has done a fabulous job," he said. "Westmount is an established neighbourhood. People have raised families here and they want to stay."

The area's retail and commercial development is also a draw. The intersection offers shopping, banking, grocery stores, a library and fitness centre -- and a new retail plaza is going up on the former Wally World site.

Tricar has fully leased its 148-unit building on the site, as well as 24 townhouses. Another 13-storey highrise will be built, "within a few years," said Carapalla.

The new rental building, coupled with the record number of new and resale homes sold in recent years, combined to drive vacancy rates higher to 4.32 per cent in 2005.

In 2004, the rate was 3.7 per cent after hovering near two per cent the previous two years. In 2001, the vacancy rate was 1.6 per cent.

__________________lovelondon.ca - The new place to discuss London and area!Forest City

__________________There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. -Donald RumsfeldDidn't you notice on the plane when you started talking, eventually I started reading the vomit bag?